The Listenary

You are responsible to present the proposal to the board.


You’ve done all the research; you have a good case. You made great visual aids to get the research available to easy sight. You organized well and wrote carefully everything that needed to be included; then you memorized what you had written. You visualized yourself stepping up to the lectern and you practiced it, too. You even visualized your audience in all those crazy positions that speech coaches tell you to conjure up.


Yet you still feel so uneasy with public speaking that your feet get in the way of each other on the way to the lectern. That unnerves you already, so your voice comes out high and squeaky. Your mouth goes so dry your tongue sticks to your teeth. Frustrated with the sound of your voice, your body tightens up more and your visual aids blur and dance in front of you. Your breath comes in short gasps and you decide you have to focus on not fainting. With that distracting focus, you can’t remember the next line in the speech and you close somehow lamely. Focus now, focus on getting back to that seat in the second row. Ah, put the head down. Relief! It’s over!


And you fear your job may be over, too.